New Water Weekend
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Friday: I explored some river stretches closer to home that was new to me. Fought the wind with no fish sightings until the last hour of daylight.
Caught this fish off a sunken tree…watching it take right beside the boat. Saw a couple NICE fish follow just before dark…but I had to drag back down some shoals to the truck.
Then, I journeyed to the New River again..called several buddies, but noone could make it, so I headed out solo.
My goal was to explore, and scout some water that I’ve been eyeing on maps, not knowing if I would find any fish or not.
I discovered some great water that is quite remote and gorgeous. Was a little nervous about meeting the locals, but all I found were several fox squirrels, some hawks, and a nice 8 point buck I nearly hit. Had the water to myself the entire weekend.Saturday:
It was a bright sunny day, and I managed to elude the wind in the sheltered steep banked river valley.
First fish was a very FAT mid 40’s” fish. She grabbed after I let the fly sink Deep down out of sight into a shaded bankside channel. I set, and missed. As I stripped the fly into view, she came back and hammered it again, with an awesome display of slashing teeth and flared gills.
I reached for the camera preset to video, and got some battle scenes:Got the fish in the net, and headed to the bank. Here’s the best pic I got. This fish had a very healthy girth.
Quickly set the camera on automatic delay for a hero shot…and as soon as I Iifted her, she catapulted back into the deep water, splashing me pretty good. My “almost” photo.
Soon after releasing the fish, I eased down the bank, and raised a double follow…two fish came from opposite directions and stayed on the fly for about 15 yards as I drifted downstream. I was hoping competition would set in…but No…I got rejected twice in one cast. Very cool to watch.
Loaded the boat, explored around some more, and slid the Crawdad down the bank on another promising set of pools.
Landed two more smaller fish on the fly that evening on a very peaceful stretch of river.
First fish wore the battle scars from being mishandled. Probably got flopped in the bottom of a boat during a previous catch. Glad to find him, but I wish he was in better shape.
Spotted a baby musky in the river. As I was watching him, my fly got clobbered by another fish. This one fought great, even giving a good jump. He got wrapped up in the leader doing gator rolls. This reminded me why I carry snips and long nose pliers. Used the boga, clipped off the fly, and soon had him untangled…would have been hopeless barehanded….he snapped his jaws every time I reached the pliers to get the fly.
Despite the boatside struggle, this fish swam away strong. Afterwards, I had a nice walleye chase the fly.
Sunday: Woke up to a peaceful, cold morning. This trip was to explore some wide/flat water, so I’ll have safer stretches to fish when the weather gets frigid. Motored over a couple miles spottingsome nice deep holes, making mental notes of all the deep pockets that I would hit on the way back down.
As I started fishing, I soon found some deep logjams and raised another double follow. The day was off to a great start…UNTIL the wind came in with fury.
I knew the tranquility was gone when I saw these clouds rushing over the mountain:
Trying to cast 12″ flies in strong winds soon took its toll on my 10 wt.
Couldn’t get a good rhythm, and the glare made it hard to read the water to explore deeper holes…still Raised 5 fish and learned a good spot for winter: a victory in my books.
Loaded the boat, and finished off the windy evening on some very fishy looking water. The bottom structure looked perfect. I look forward to coming back on a brighter, calmer day.
May be a while before I can make it back, but my mind’s already racing with ideas of the next new stretches to try.
Travis
you suck…… i was suppost to go down there in the beginning of november……. Now i am really missing not being able to chase them…..
but it sounds like your trip rocked!!!
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